Latest / Elon Musk Podcast / Musk’s DOGE Crashes Into U.S. Health Agencies, Grabs Access to Billions in Medicare Funds

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Musk’s DOGE Crashes Into U.S. Health Agencies, Grabs Access to Billions in Medicare Funds · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome back. To the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  This is a show where we discuss. The Critical.
• 0:07
  Crossroads. That shape SpaceX.
• 0:09
  Tesla X The Boring Company. And Neurolink.
• 0:13
  I'm your host, Will Walden. How exactly is Elon Musk's
• 0:18
  Department of Government efficiency getting access to
• 0:21
  sensitive federal systems, and what impact could this have on
• 0:25
  Medicare and Medicaid funding? And also, why are career
• 0:29
  government employees sounding the alarm right now?
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  Let's break it down and see what happens inside US health
• 0:36
  agencies as DOGE officials move in, gaining access to key
• 0:41
  financial systems. Now, In recent days,
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  representatives of Musk's DOGE have visited multiple federal
• 0:47
  health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and
• 0:50
  Prevention, the CDC in Atlanta, and the Centers for Medicare and
• 0:54
  Medicaid Services CMS, according to five people familiar with the
• 0:58
  matter. DOGE officials have requested
• 1:00
  access to payment and contracting systems, which
• 1:03
  handle hundreds of billions of dollars in annual healthcare
• 1:08
  payments. Now, the Wall Street Journal
• 1:10
  previously reported that some of these requests have been
• 1:12
  granted, allowing DOGE personal access to CMS's grant management
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  system. Elon Musk himself appeared to
• 1:19
  acknowledge Doge's focus on federal healthcare spending,
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  writing on X that Medicare is quote, where the big money fraud
• 1:27
  is happening now. He did not provide specific
• 1:31
  evidence to support his claim. In response to the growing
• 1:33
  involvement of DOGE officials, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon
• 1:37
  stated in an e-mail that 2 senior CMS officials, one
• 1:41
  responsible for policy, another for operations, are overseeing
• 1:45
  Doge's collaboration. Now, Nixon said, the department
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  is assessing, quote, where there may be opportunities for more
• 1:52
  effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting
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  the goals of President Trump. Now the Department of Health and
• 1:59
  Human Services. The HHS is responsible for
• 2:02
  nearly $2 trillion in annual spending, much of it on Medicare
• 2:07
  and Medicaid. In these programs have long been
• 2:09
  scrutinized by both lawmakers and dependent watchdogs for
• 2:13
  potential fraud and waste. Now, Musk, along with his former
• 2:16
  Doge partner Vivek from Swami, has previously spoken about
• 2:20
  targeting healthcare spending as part of the broader plan to cut
• 2:23
  at least $1 trillion from federal expenditures.
• 2:26
  However, past attempts to reduce Medicare costs have often
• 2:32
  sparked backlash from healthcare providers and advocacy groups
• 2:35
  concerned about the impact of patient care.
• 2:38
  Doge's efforts to gain access to financial systems extend beyond
• 2:41
  health agencies. Over the weekend, Treasury
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  Secretary Scott Bessent authorized a DOGE representative
• 2:47
  to access a crucial federal payment system that disperses
• 2:51
  trillions of dollars annually. Bessent later clarified that the
• 2:55
  access was limited to read only status and that the DOGE
• 2:59
  representative had been formally appointed as a Treasury
• 3:03
  official. Now, Musk's allies have also
• 3:06
  taken on key roles within the Office of Personal Management
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  and other government agencies. Some career government employees
• 3:12
  are increasingly concerned that Doge is bypassing standard
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  procedures designed to protect sensitive data.
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  One primary fear is that DOGE officials who are not long term
• 3:22
  civil servants may not be subject to the same oversight as
• 3:26
  career government workers. That while Musk and President
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  Trump have defended these actions as necessary for rooting
• 3:32
  out waste, others questioned whether DOGE is circumventing
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  established safeguards now. Concerns about improper payments
• 3:39
  in Medicare and Medicaid are not new, though, Avec Roy, who's the
• 3:42
  founder of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity,
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  pointing to long standing bipartisan concerns about waste
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  in these programs. They said nonpartisan experts
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  have long believed that more than 10% of Medicare and
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  Medicaid spending is improper. It's essential to identify and
• 4:00
  root out these improper payments in order to direct more funding
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  to patient care for seniors and vulnerable populations, Roy
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  said. Now, a report from the
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  Government Accountability Office, the GAO, in April 2024
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  found that Medicare and Medicaid accounted for over 40% of
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  improper payments across the federal government.
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  Now, the GAO estimated that these programs were responsible
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  for more than $100 billion in erinus payments in 2023 alone.
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  Now, while efforts to reduce fraud are widely supported, the
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  extent of Doge's authority and its methods for addressing the
• 4:35
  issue remain unclear. Now, DOGE officials have also
• 4:38
  sought access to specific federal financial systems,
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  including the Unified Financial Management System at the
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  Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System, or
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  High Glass. Now, High Glass contains
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  financial information for hospitals, physicians, and other
• 4:53
  healthcare providers that receive payments from Medicare,
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  Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.
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  This database is considered highly sensitive as it tracks
• 5:02
  nearly all federal healthcare payments.
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  Now, accessing these systems typically requires specialized
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  training under the health insurance portability and
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  accountability actor HIPAA to ensure compliance with privacy
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  protections. It is not yet known whether DOGE
• 5:19
  officials have undergone this training or if they have been
• 5:22
  granted full access to the systems.
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  Some current and former government officials have raised
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  concerns about potential violations of privacy laws if
• 5:30
  untrained personnel are handling sensitive data now.
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  Beyond financial systems, though, DOGE has also made
• 5:36
  personnel related inquiries at the CDC.
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  DOGE officials have requested lists of employees with less
• 5:43
  than a year of service, as well as those in their two year
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  probationary periods. The purpose of these requests
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  has not been made clear, but some federal employees have
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  interpreted as an attempt to assess which staff members could
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  be more easily removed or reassigned.
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  Now, Doge's reach is not limited to health agencies, though.
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  At the Department of Labor, senior leaders have informed
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  staffers responsible for handling sensitive data that
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  they will soon be working with DOGE.
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  And according to a Labor Department employee who spoke on
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  the condition of anonymity, these new DOGE related
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  assignments will take precedent over the Staffs usual
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  responsibilities. The collaboration is set to
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  begin with an initial meeting, which was originally scheduled
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  to take place in person but was later shifted to a virtual
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  format. Now, the decision to move the
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  meeting online came after labor unions, including the AFLCIO,
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  announced a protest against DOGE outside the Labor Department.
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  Union leaders have expressed concerns that Doge's involvement
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  could lead to workforce reductions, policy changes or
• 6:47
  reduced oversight of work protections.
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  The Labor Department overseas critical data related to
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  unemployment claims, disability insurance, workplace safety
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  investigations, wage theft and child labor violations.
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  It also enforces whistleblower protections across multiple
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  industries, including food safety, aviation and nuclear
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  energy Remains unclear exactly which Labor Department records
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  DOGE intends to access. Some federal employees worried
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  the Doge's push for efficiency could come at the expense of
• 7:18
  regulatory enforcement, potentially weakening
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  protections for workers. Others argue that scrutinizing
• 7:24
  agency operations is a necessary step towards eliminating
• 7:27
  efficiencies in government spending.
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  And while the full impact of Doge's efforts remain uncertain,
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  the group's rapid expansion into key federal agencies has raised
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  questions about transparency, oversight and the long term
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  consequences for government operations.
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  But for now, agencies and officials and watchdog groups
• 7:48
  are monitoring the situation closely to see exactly how much
• 7:51
  access DOGE ultimately gains and how it chooses to use it, and if
• 7:58
  they use it illegally. Hey, thank you so much for
• 8:07
  listening today. I really do appreciate your
• 8:09
  support. If you could take a second and
• 8:10
  hit this subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast
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• 8:15
  Right now I. Greatly appreciate it, it helps
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• 8:33
  And please take care of yourselves and each other, and
• 8:35
  I'll see you tomorrow.